Monthly archives for November, 2013

Plot summary (from the studio): The Sapphires is an inspirational tale set in the heady days of the late ‘60s about a quartet of young, talented singers from a remote Aboriginal mission, discovered and guided by a kind-hearted, soul-loving manager. Plucked from obscurity, the four spirited women with powerhouse voices – called The Sapphires – are given the opportunity to entertain American troops in Vietnam. Catapulted onto the world stage as Australia’s answer to the Supremes, their journey of discovery offers them not only the chance to show off their musical skills, but find love and togetherness, experience loss and grow as women.

The Sapphires is an adaptation of the hugely successful Australian stage musical of the same name, and is inspired by the remarkable true story of writer Tony Briggs’ mother and three aunts. The four Sapphires are joyfully played by AFI Award winner Deborah Mailman, Australian pop sensation Jessica Mauboy and newcomers Miranda Tapsell and Shari Sebbens. Bridesmaids actor Chris O’Dowd delivers a tour de force comic performance as their manager, that is at once incredibly funny, likeable and genuine. Receiving a ten minute standing ovation at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, The Sapphires is a crowd-pleasing combination of comedy, heart and romance and an unbeatable soul music soundtrack, set against the racial and social upheaval of the late 1960s. A jewel-bright charmer and an Australian classic, The Sapphires is not to be missed.

Warning: Spoilers below!

Liked:

Yeah, I’m a sap, but I teared up when Gail read Dave’s proposal letter — after he had been shot. Her reaction was heartbreaking (since she still didn’t know what happened to him) and made it clear that she thought her chance at happiness was gone. I’m so glad he survived.

I almost always like films based on true stories because the story naturally has to have something to it to warrant being translated to film. I think The Sapphires fit this bill, even though I viewed it more in terms of a feel-good semi-success story than the political triumph of a group of oppressed Aborigines.

Disliked:

I didn’t really connect with any of the five main characters. None of them were sufficiently developed, and none of them really stood out — aside from Gail and Dave (and that was just because of the focus on their love story).

I guess I just don’t understand enough about the political situation surrounding the Aborigines in Australia, because that whole angle went right over my head. I didn’t even get why the four girls were called “black”, as they certainly didn’t look black to me (especially the cousin). I would have benefited from a scene or two explaining the oppression — and perhaps other viewers would have as well. A few sentences on a title card didn’t cut it.

Let’s face it, the script (and production) were fairly amateurish. I know this wasn’t a Hollywood film backed by megabucks, but some of the stuff that made it to the screen was seriously cringe-worthy.

In the end, The Sapphires came off as Dreamgirls without the glitz or glamour. Not a fair comparison, perhaps, but one that nagged at me the entire time I was watching.

Rating:

I was drawn to The Sapphires by its recent status as the iTunes $.99 rental of the week, as well as its amazing 92% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Because of such a high rating, I was expecting an astounding, emotionally-charged ride — but that didn’t happen here. My gut tells me to give this 2 stars out of 5, but I’ll bump it up to 3 stars because it’s (based on) a true story.

I’ve been spending all day interviewing family members about what they want for Christmas and outlining a game plan for Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping. I really want to get most things online and limit my trips to the mall.

For example, I’m going to buy roland rd-700nx at musicians friend for my nephew instead of shlepping from store to store looking for a good deal. He’s been talking about getting a keyboard for a while now, and his parents finally gave the okay.

That’s probably going to be the first thing I buy. Then I’ll start to tackle the rest of my list. I hope to get all my shopping done within the next week!

The Good Wife 5×09 –“Whack-a-Mole:” This episode wasn’t great, but at least it seems that the show is headed back in the right direction again as far as the case of the week is concerned. I just thought it was stupid that the very first real courtroom action for FA has them pitted against LG. Come on. Chicago’s a big city…aren’t there any other firms in the Good Wife universe? Obviously the writers can’t make LG the opponents every single time. What’s going to happen then?

I hate that new lawyer, and it’s not the good kind of “hate” either. He’s annoying, obnoxious, smarmy, and wholly unnecessary. Plus, he didn’t win any points by pulling that stupid, sophomoric prank on FA. I shouldn’t even call it a prank. It was more like outright larceny with a healthy dash of unethical behavior tossed in (reading confidential client files). What a jackass. And I hate Will even more for welcoming this jerk into the firm and for tolerating his juvenile actions. At least Diane and Kalinda seem to be aware that Damien is bad news. Let’s hope his stay is very, very short.

As for the Jackie thing…meh. I’m not at all interested in her personal vendettas from 15 or 20 years ago. That storyline did sort of make me wonder about the Melissa George character, though. How come the ethics officer is all over Peter’s speaking agenda, but doesn’t seem to GAF about his nominees to the state Supreme Court??? Certainly the woman’s connection to Peter’s father would have come into question, right? And where the hell is this judgeship storyline going, anyway? I thought it would have faded away when Diane’s chances went down the tubes, but here it is still taking up lots of screen time. Sigh.

Plot summary (from the studio): David Burke (Jason Sudeikis) is a small-time pot dealer whose clientele includes chefs and soccer moms, but no kids-after all, he has his scruples. So what could go wrong? Plenty. Preferring to keep a low profile for obvious reasons, he learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished when he tries to help out some local teens and winds up getting jumped by a trio of gutter punks. Stealing his stash and his cash, they leave him in major debt to his supplier, Brad (Ed Helms).

In order to wipe the slate clean-and maintain a clean bill of health-David must now become a big-time drug smuggler by bringing Brad’s latest shipment in from Mexico. Twisting the arms of his neighbors, cynical stripper Rose (Jennifer Aniston) and wannabe customer Kenny (Will Poulter), and the tatted-and-pierced streetwise teen Casey (Emma Roberts), he devises a foolproof plan. One fake wife, two pretend kids and a huge, shiny RV later, the “Millers” are headed south of the border for a Fourth of July weekend that is sure to end with a bang.

Warning: Spoilers below!

Liked:

The main cast was likable enough. I was a bit worried about Sudeikis because I haven’t seen him in much (not an SNL viewer at all), but he was tolerable in the lead. Aniston plays essentially the same character in every film, which I know bugs some people, but not me. And the two “kids” were fine, too.

The writers didn’t try to stretch the gags out for too long. For example, I was dreading that they’d carry that fake baby thing throughout the whole film, but they wrapped that particular joke up fairly quickly (and in a somewhat creative way, as well). Even the swinging thing with the other couple didn’t get beaten to death. The jokes about that were infrequent, timely, and therefore a lot funnier.

The film was entertaining as a whole. There were some LOL parts and lots of chuckles along the way. Moreover, there were only a few boring scenes that I would complete skip on rewatch, which is obviously a good thing.

Disliked:

I hated the scene where Rose helped Kenny practice kissing — and it was all because of the age difference between the actors. All I could think was what if it were Sudeikis schooling Emma Roberts in the same way? People would be absolutely disgusted and grossed out, right? Well, there shouldn’t be a double standard there. I know most folks are probably like, “Will Poulter is so lucky, he got to make out with Jennifer Aniston” or whatever, but not me. Ewww.

The premise for the movie was very flimsy. Then again, this certainly isn’t the kind of film that’s meant to stand up to any kind of scrutiny or analysis.

Ed Helms was terrible! I usually like him, but he was god-awful as Brad. He needs to stick to being the lovable shmuck instead of trying to pull off whatever Brad was supposed to be. Hell, he would have made a David, come to think of it.

Rating:

We’re the Millers is a typical comedy populated by fairly likable actors playing fairly likable characters. It doesn’t take any chances and the plot is predictable right from the beginning, but there’s enough warmth and humor in the execution to make it worth watching. I give this one 4 stars out of 5.

Modern Family 5×08 — “ClosetCon ’13”: This was not a great episode. I don’t like it when Claire and Jay go off together because I don’t think they make a particularly strong pairing on the show — and this ep was no different. Everything that happened at ClosetCon was boring and predictable in a classic, sitcom-y way.

I didn’t like the Phil storyline either. I appreciate what the writers were going for with that Apollo 13 vibe (down to Manny and Luke wearing white shirts and thin black ties), but it didn’t work for me. I’d rather have Phil geeking out over the latest real estate apps for his phone and trying to cater to a bunch of different clients at once than having him breaking stuff or being a general klutz.

And don’t even get me started on Mitch and Cam. Talk about over-the-top and sitcom-y. Yikes. (Although Lily did make me smile with her “y’all” and “Lord a mercy”. That was cute.)

The Good Wife 5×08 –“The Next Month:” This was another boring episode for the most part, but at least it looks like things are moving forward for Florrick/Agos. They finally have office space (that took a whole month??) and their first new client. PTL! Now let’s start having decent cases of the week again.

Oh, one more thing about FA. Why in god’s name would they fire Robyn??? Even if they do need to save on payroll, they can’t possibly get rid of the ONLY investigator they have! How about dumping one of the half-dozen lawyers who aren’t bringing in clients, billing hours, or doing anything else??? I can’t believe Clark would have recommended laying off a vital resource like an investigator. And if they can’t afford to keep Robyn on, where are they going to get the money for secretaries, paralegals, a receptionist?

I liked seeing America Ferrera back, even though I don’t quite understand the broader purpose of her character. Is she there solely to be a love interest for Eli? Speaking of which — usually I would be totally squicked out by the obvious age difference between those two. They clearly look more like a father-daughter combo than lovers. But for some reason, this pairing works for me. Maybe it’s the way the normally, cool, calculating Eli gets all discombobulated whenever he so much as catches a glimpse of Natalie. Or way his face lights up around her. Whatever the cause, I actually find myself rooting for these two.

A couple other comments: so tired of Will’s latest fling just popping into the office for gross PDA sessions whenever she feels like it. And what’s up with Will even allowing that? How about showing a bit of professionalism there, guy? Also, there was way too little of Diane in this ep. Splitting the show’s focus between two law firms was bound to lead to something like this; I just wish Diane wasn’t the screen time casualty. Less Will would be preferable!

Modern Family 5×07 — “A Fair to Remember”: This episode had its moments. I enjoyed the callback to the previous anniversary episode where the kids walked in on Phil and Claire having sex. I’d be talking loudly and making as much noise as possible, too! Also, it was good to see the writers go in a different direction with the anniversary celebration instead of having another Clive Bixby/whatever-Claire’s-role-playing-name-was encounter. I thought the Chinese acrobat show was an incredibly thoughtful gesture on Claire’s part. I love these two!

I didn’t mind Manny and Gloria this week, and thought the Jay/fair cop story line was decent. Mitchell/Cam/Lily were barely on, so I didn’t get annoyed by them. The Luke/Alex/Sienna angle was predictable, but again, they didn’t take up much time, so no biggie.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about a potential Haley hookup with the Pritchetts’ manny. It is time for her to move on from Dylan, but the manny is way too close to home — and I think even Haley would be wary of that type of situation. Plus, didn’t the guy say he was engaged or pre-engaged or something? Would Haley stoop that low??

The Good Wife 5×07 –“The Next Week:” I wasn’t feeling this episode at all. It just seemed like a rehash of what’s been going on in the past few eps, with nothing really moving forward very much. Lockhart Gardner is still out to screw Florrick Agos in any way possible. Florrick Agos is still in Alicia’s goddamn living room and arguing amongst themselves about office space. Grace is still being coveted by every young male in the Chicagoland area. *Eyeroll* How about something new?

Even Owen’s interference was nothing new. I was embarrassed on Alicia’s behalf that he stuck his nose into her business and told Will that the reason she left was because she is still in love with him and couldn’t trust herself to be around him. OMG. I cannot believe that after everything that’s happened this season, the writers are still going to push Will/Alicia. I admit I used to ship them back in S1 or S2, but I am so over them by now.

The only thing I liked about this ep was Nathan Lane’s reappearance as Clark. Now that there’s a real adult at Florrick Agos, I hope they can get going with some actual cases soon.